Enzymatic production of glycerol acetate from glycerol

• We synthesized value-added glycerol derivative (glycerol acetate, GA) by enzyme.
• GA was synthesized from glycerol and methyl acetate by transesterification.
• Under the optimal condition, the conversion of glycerol acetate was 95.00%.

In this study, we report the enzymatic production of glycerol acetate from glycerol and methyl acetate. Lipases are essential for the catalysis of this reaction. To find the optimum conditions for glycerol acetate production, sequential experiments were designed. Type of lipase, lipase concentration, molar ratio of reactants, reaction temperature and solvents were investigated for the optimum conversion of glycerol to glycerol acetate. As the result of lipase screening, Novozym 435 (Immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B) was turned out to be the optimal lipase for the reaction. Under the optimal conditions (2.5 g/L of Novozym 435, 1:40 molar ratio of glycerol to methyl acetate, 40 °C and tert-butanol as the solvent), glycerol acetate production was achieved in 95.00% conversion.